News archive (2014 - 10)

On November 3 multinational Exercise Iron Sword 2014 will be officially opened at ceremonies the General Silvestras Žukauskas Training Range in Pabradė and drill grounds of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas Mechanised Infantry Battalion in Rukla. In total, roughly 2.5 thousand soldiers from 9 NATO allies, the Czech Republic, Estonia, U.S., UK. Canada, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Hungary and Germany, will line up to open the exercise in both sites.

On October 29, Defence Policy Director of the Ministry of National Defence Vaidotas Urbelis and his Latvian and Estonian counterparts met with U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Dereck Chollet in Riga, Latvia. The meeting officials addressed the decisions taken at the NATO Summit in Wales, security situation in the Baltic region, security challenges in the Middle East, and assistance for Ukraine.

A contingent of about 40 soldiers of the Lithuanian Grand Duchess Birutė Uhlan Battalion has left for Sweden were the Nordic European Union Battle Group (EU NBG 15) formed by 7 countries will be certified for duty in the first semester of 2015.

According to the exercise scenario, NBG 15 will be deployed into the territory of a fictional country to manage a complex humanitarian emergency situation in close cooperation with civilian authorities, governmental organisations and NGOs. The certification exercise will be running on November 3-14 near Uppsala and Motala, in Sweden.

On October 30 Lithuanian soldiers and the CHARLIE company of the U.S. 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division deployed in Lithuania will train delivering live fire mounted on the BRADLEY infantry fighting vehicles and the STRYKER armoured personnel carriers (U.S. military), and from the weaponry of the M113 armoured personnel carriers (Lithuanian military).

On November 2 through 14 large-scale multinational exercise Iron Sword 2014 will be held in Lithuania for the first time. The exercise will take place in two largest Lithuania’s training ranges and involve over 2.5 thousand military personnel from 9 NATO member states: the Czech Republic, Estonia, U.S.A., UK, Canada, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary and Germany.

On October 29 Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas met with Head of the Warsaw office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States Michal Baranowski. At the meeting the guest and the Minister discussed the possible contribution of the Fund to finding solutions to regional security issues and opportunities to cooperate with Lithuanian state institutions.

A company of the Hungarian Armed Force will be deployed to Lithuana as part of NATO reinforcement measures on land. The first group of Hungarian company troops along with technical equipment arrived in Lithuania on 28 October, while the rest group is due to come on 30 October later this week.

Approximately 140 Hungarian soldiers will form a battalion-sized unit together with assigned Lithuanian and U.S. companies for combined training and participation in exercises in Lithuania and other Baltic states. The Hungarian unit will be deployed to Lithuania for the period till the end of this year.

On October 29 at a press conference at the Ministry of National Defence Chief of Defence of Lithuania Major General Jonas Vytautas Žukas and Commander of the Lithuanian Land Force Major General Almantas Leika will present multinational large-scale exercise Iron Sword 2014 which will be held on November 2-14 for the first time in Lithuania.

On October 28 Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas discussed U.S. military presence in the Baltic region, implementation of NATO decisions taken in Wales, host nation support, and other points with Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Brent Hartley. The meeting was also attended by U.S. Ambassador in Lithuania Deborah McCarthy.

In the morning of October 27 the long-awaited Independence LNG Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) reached Klaipėda Seaport, Lithuania. The ship was met, protected and escorted to enter Klaipėda Seaport by the LNS KURŠIS (M54) and other state security services from the moment she sailed into the territorial waters of Lithuania on October 25.